In case you haven't seen the reports elsewhere, the latest Dual-G4 minitowers ("Mirrored Door" or "WindTunnel") do not come with an OS9 bootable CD. In addition, a "generic " 9.2.2 CD will not boot these units "properly". What I mean is that the new 100MHz ATA bus is not recognized by the software on an otherwise-bootable OS9 CD. The result is that any HDs on that bus do not come up on the Desktop nor (it is reported) are those HDs seen by OS9 disk utilities.

I've managed to define a method to create your own bootable OS9 CD that -will- see the ATA/100 bus. It's not perfect but it does work and has allowed me to make an OS9 "emergency" CD. Here is how it is done...

[Editor's note: The following procedure is untested here, but it someone wants to send me a new G4, I'll give it a run through!]

You will need Toast. I am using 5.2 but 5.1.x is fine.

Startup in OS9 (the OS9 that's already on the main HD that came with your Mac); I've not been able to get this to work when attempting this under OSX.

Launch Toast.

Set Toast to burn a Data CD in "Mac OS" format. This is critical. If you leave it as "Mac OS Extended", it will not work! (MacOS Extended CDs are not bootable!)

Click the "new CD" button at the bottom of the Toast window. Name the CD anything you wish.

Drag the OS9 System Folder over to the Toast window.

Open the System Folder in the Toast window and remove the three files that start with the word "Classic". Note that we're talking about the System Folder in the Toast window and NOT the "genuine" System Folder on the HD. Don't remove the files from there or your Mac will not run in "Classic" mode (though OSX might offer to add those files later ... but why tempt fate?).

Drag over any disk utilities (like the OS9 Utilities folder, Norton Utilities, Toast, etc.). Make sure any support files required by that utility are placed in the appropriate folders (like Toast's extensions, etc.).

Burn the CD.

You startup with this CD in the usual manner (hold down the "C" key). Don't mess with the Startup Disk control panel when booted with this CD, as it seems to hang the OS subsequent to changing the Startup disk when attempting a reboot. This might have been a quirk that occured on my system because of the manner in which I built this CD.

In any case, I now have a "master" CD that will serve as a basis for any "emergency" discs I might require for OS9 utilites. Until Apple comes up with an OSX CD that permits me to include other utilities (besides Disk Utility), we still need OS9.

By the way, I have no other use for OS9. Everything else I need on my Mac runs under Jaguar. All hail the spotted kitty!

I did it differently. I used Toast to create a temporary partition of 650 MB, then copied the system folder and everything else i could fit, then used Toast to burn it as a Mac OS CD. I didn't have to delete the Classic files, it boots fine and recognizes the ATA/100 drives (I have 2 on the ATA/100 buss).

The BootCD Utility is a wonderfully useful tool, it allows you to create a MacOS X CD with the finder and any other utilities you choose on it. It uses a RAM disk for /tmp and other temp directories so it doesn't mess with your other drives.
BootCD is available from http://www.charlessoft.com/. Enjoy!

I emailed this to MacFixIt, they normally post my ramblings... but chose not to post this. Perhaps the editor was embarrassed or something.

Despite having a new ATA/100 bus the Power Mac G4 (Mirrored Drive Doors) is no different from any previous Mac model. The reason your existing Mac OS 9.2.2 CD wouldn't boot your machine is the same reason a Mac OS 9.1 CD couldn't boot it either. It is brand new hardware and each time there's new hardware the Mac OS ROM file has to be updated to run this new hardware. The Power Mac G4 (MDD) does not have a special version of 9.2.2. It simply includes a newer Mac OS ROM than was on your version of 9.2.2. In actual fact these models require Mac OS ROM 9.5.1 or later.

In order to get your previous 9.2.2 CD to work you simply copy the System Folder from it to a new Image and replace its Mac OS ROM with Mac OS ROM 9.5.1. You can copy the Mac OS ROM 9.5.1 from your G4's System Folder. There are other newer hardware drivers that you might want to include, such as newer ATI driver update and newer FireWire Support extensions... oh and don't forget the newer Apple CPU Plugins.

When I upgraded from a G4 (Digital Audio) to a G4 (MDD) I just cloned my existing 9.2.2 install onto the new ATA/100 drive and then added in the new Mac OS ROM and new additional extensions. It runs like a dream. Also I make a bootable utilities CD and by simply updating Mac OS ROM and the other extensions it boots my G4 (MDD) well.

I'm an Apple Certified Service Engineer, but you don't need that qualification to gain the above knowledge. It is common knowledge actually... and has always been the case with all new models for a long time now.

Hi folks
all the previous hints have been very helpful (expecially the one about the bootable CD: I simply copied the 9.2.2 folder that comes with the Restore CDs option and made a partition with Toast so that the CD could have been made bootable).

I am now trying to create a "custom made" system folder for my new 1 Ghz DP, using an already installed and perfectly working 867 quicksilver as starting point (too many things and progs installed!).

Everything is perfectly fine except DiskBurner does not work anymore: if I insert a blank CD it's seen as empty on the desktop but when I try to complete the copy (ejecting the CD), it says the drive is not supported.
Which files do I need to properly burn CDs from the desktop?

Can I use the HDD that came with the 867? As far as I can see, it works and it is the same IBM disk, except the size is 20Gb less... only wonder about the bus' speed and slowdowns.